Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

As per the attached Licensing (2003 Act) Committee Procedure

The Chairman and remaining members of the Panel introduced themselves, as did the officers present. Richard Wormold, Barrister was present representing the Applicant and was accompanied by Barry Todd and Fran Gillgallan, tenants of the Duke of Wellington.

Also in attendance at the meeting were five members of the public who had made representations to the application; four indicated their wish to speak at the hearing. There were also two members of the press present.

The Assistant Solicitor for the Council informed the Chairman that the representation from Councillor RMA Manning included in the agenda papers should be disregarded. It was an invalid representation and should have not been accepted as it was not clear whether it was a personal representation or one made on behalf of the public. One of representees present disagreed with the action taken as he had been informed during a discussion with a member of the licensing department, that the letter had been re-written and submitted to comply with the appropriate criteria. The Chairman, confirmed that that the Sub-Committee would follow the legal advice given in respect of that representation.

None. 

Appendices A, B, C and D are not available electronically. 

The Sub-Committee has considered your application very carefully and has had due regard to the Licensing Act 2003, the accompanying Guidance and Regulations and the SCDC Licensing Policy.  We have heard the evidence of the legal representative of Greene King Retailing Limited who appeared with Fran Gilgallan and Barry Todd who are the current tenants at the Duke of Wellington. We also heard from the following representees: Justin Meadows, Amanda Radford, Janet Hill and Lyn Disley and we considered their submissions in respect of the application and had regard to the four written submissions of the other  ...  view the full decision text for item 3.

The Licensing Officer gave a resume of the application to vary the existing licence for the Duke of Wellington PH at Willingham as contained in the papers before the Panel and reported that letters of objection had been received as contained in Appendix D of the papers. A representation received from the Council’s Environmental Health Officer had subsequently been withdrawn following negotiations with the applicant and the agreement to conditions as stated at para 9 of the Assistant Licensing Officer’s report. Additional conditions suggested by Environmental Health had also been agreed with the applicant (para 10 refers). A further set of proposed conditions were submitted by the applicant on 18 September 2006 and circulated at the meeting.

It was indicated by the Licensing Officer that the Panel had three options:

• Approve the application as submitted
• Reject in its entirety
• Approve with conditions in accordance with the four licensing objectives

Mr Wormold addressed the Panel and made the following remarks:

• Greene King were very happy that the present tenants had taken on the premises as there had been problems with the previous incumbent
• The present tenants had embarked upon a total refurbishment of the premises; additional refurbishment would include a smoking room, patio area and new kitchen, all to be completed at no cost to the brewery
• Between 10 and 12 known troublemakers had been banned from the premises
• Average age of persons frequenting the pub was 35-40
• There had been no trouble since the present tenants had take over the premises in May 2006
• Photographs of the refurbished premises were shown to the Panel (no objections having been raised to the presentation of this new evidence)
• The tenants saw the premises as a community pub and would like to open at 08:30 to serve breakfast, together with the flexibility to stay open without having to make repeat applications. A straw poll which they stated they had taken from some of the villagers showed agreement to these proposals
• The representations received were from a small minority
• Other nearby public houses, namely the Black Bull and Three Tuns both have later hours than those proposed for the Duke of Wellington (The Panel were reminded by the Licensing Officer that the application should be considered on its own merit, however the times of the other pubs should be stated if required)
• The tenants kept a complaints book and logged any concerns or complaints
• The landlady had banned someone from the pub who was behaving inappropriately on the village green
• In order to address objections raised to the application, a list of solutions had been offered as submitted on the 18 September
• Following negotiations with the Environmental Health Officer, further conditions had been agreed
• It was agreed that problems had occurred within the pub premises in the past, but this had now changed with the arrival of the new tenants

The Panel raised the following questions:

(a)   Had there being a succession of tenants?

(b)   Were the opening hours for breakfast outside the remit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.